The St. Thomas Aquinas High School boys hockey team lost 4-1 at Trinity of Manchester on Dec. 19. The Saints returned the favor, winning by the same score on Feb. 20 at the Dover Arena. Now the Saints are set to host the Pioneers on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Division I quarterfinals.

“We’re starting to roll at the right time, and that’s what matters,” St. Thomas senior defenseman Garrett Palmer said. “We just have to keep playing how we’ve been playing. If we play like we played them last time, we should be fine.”

And No. 4 St. Thomas (12-5-1) has been playing pretty darn well lately. The Saints enter the tournament with seven wins in their final eight games, the only setback in that stretch a 7-4 loss at home to Manchester Memorial on Feb. 6. No. 5 Trinity (11-5-2 overall) is 1-2-1 in its last four regular-season games.

“There’s been more consistency,” St. Thomas coach Andrew Leach said. “The intensity, the systems, the execution of the plays. When they had chances, they buried them. We’re looking to carry that into the playoffs.

The Saints are happy to be at home, which will be the first home playoff game for Leach in his three years as St. Thomas coach. Last year, the Saints lost at Bishop Brady in the first round of the tournament.

“It’s really big,” said junior forward Glenn Wiswell, who scored twice in the win over Trinity. “We get to play on our home ice in front of our own people. We’re used to it. Trinity plays on a wider rink, so it’ll be an advantage to be on our own rink.”.

Zane Angelopoulos made 24 saves in last week’s win over Trinity. TJ Boulanger and Hayden Middleton also scored.

Wiswell (20-11-31) and Boulanger (16-12-28) are the team’s leading scorers and Angelopoulos has been the go-to guy in net with a 2.38 GAA and two shutouts.

“This is what we wanted,” Leach said about playing at home. “I don’t even know when the last time we hosted was. Hopefully we can use it to our advantage. I think anybody can beat anybody pretty much in all three divisions of hockey.”

A 3-2 loss at Pinkerton on Jan. 19 was the Saints’ second in a row and put them at 5-4-1, still in playoff contention but not near their goal of locking up home-ice advantage for a quarterfinal game.

“We had an intervention,” Palmer said. “Everything was starting to fall apart. We had some guys sit out but we still managed to win games. I think we just rode that through the rest of the year.”

More than two months separated the Saints’ two meetings against Trinity. In between the two, Leach said, his team matured, which was evident during the Saints’ win last week.

“Our forecheck was on, our defense was uncovered, we didn’t give them many Grade-A opportunities,” Leach said. “When you play like that, you’re tough to beat. When you deviate from that, that’s when they break you down. So hopefully, we can continue to focus on what we’ve been trying to get through to them.”

The winner earns a trip to the JFK Coliseum in Manchester for a semifinal matchup next Wednesday against either No. 1 Manchester Memorial (14-4), No. 8 Bishop Guertin (8-9-1) or No. 9 Hanover (6-8-4). The championship game is March 9 at 4:30 p.m. at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.